They Go Up So Fast
They Go Up So Fast was a Rocket Lab Electron mission that launched successfully at 22:30 UTC on 22 March 2021 (11:30 a.m. NZDT on 23 March; 6:30 p.m. EDT on 22 March) from Launch Complex 1A on New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula.
22:30 UTC on 22 March 2021 · 11:30 a.m. NZDT on 23 March · 6:30 p.m. EDT on 22 March
Mission State
This mission currently has a dated launch window in the tracker.
The primary watch link points to an official Rocket Lab source.
Launch Updates
-
Success confirmed
by SwGustav Source: twitter.com -
First five payloads successfully deployed per live webcast. One more burn before the final payload - about forty minutes from now.
by spacelaunchnowadmin -
Adjusting T-0
by Nosu Source: twitter.com
Updates via Launch Library 2 (The Space Devs).
Name Origin
Play on "they grow up so fast" — wistful and nostalgic. This mission delivered Rocket Lab's 100th satellite to orbit, making the milestone sentiment the primary driver of the name.
Mission Overview
The Electron rocket will carry seven satellites to low Earth orbit: one Earth-observation satellite for BlackSky, two Internet-Of-Things (IoT) nanosatellites for companies Fleet Space and Myriota, a technology demonstration satellite for the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Canberra Space, a weather satellite pathfinder technology demonstration from Care Weather technologies, a technology demonstrator for the U.S. Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command as well as Rocket Lab’s in-house designed and built Photon Pathstone spacecraft which will operate on orbit as a risk reduction demonstration to build spacecraft heritage ahead of Rocket Lab’s mission to the Moon for NASA later this year.
Technical Details
- They Go Up So Fast rocketlabusa.com
Launch data cross-checked against Wikipedia.
Was this a jellyfish launch?
UnlikelySun 43° above the horizon at liftoff — daylight, the sky is too bright.
Details
- Unlikely
- Low
- Moderate
- High
- Liftoff
- 11:30 a.m. NZDT · 22:30 UTC
- Astronomical dawn (−18°)
- 5:44 a.m. NZDT · 16:44 UTC
- Nautical dawn (−12°)
- 6:16 a.m. NZDT · 17:16 UTC
- Civil dawn (−6°)
- 6:47 a.m. NZDT · 17:47 UTC
- Sunrise
- 7:13 a.m. NZDT · 18:13 UTC
Twilight times at the pad (Mahia, NZ) for the morning of the launch.
What's a rocket jellyfish? When a rocket launches in twilight, the ground is dark but its exhaust plume climbs into sunlight high above. The expanding plume glows against the dark sky in a jellyfish-like shape.
Space-Object Catalog
| Object | Operator | Built by | Mass | Orbit | Status | NORAD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Veery Hatchling v0.2 2021-023A · Payload | Operator Care Weather Technologies | Built by Care Weather Technologies / Brigham Young University Cubesat 1U | Mass 1 kg | Orbit 233 × 256 km · 44.9° | Status Decayed 2024-03-22 | NORAD 47965 |
Centauri 3 2021-023B · Payload | Operator Fleet Space Technologies Pty Ltd | Built by Tyvak Nanosatellite Systems LLC Cubesat 6U | Mass 10 kg | Orbit 214 × 219 km · 45.0° | Status Decayed 2024-06-21 | NORAD 47966 |
RAAF M2 A 2021-023C · Payload | Operator University of New South Wales Center for Space Eng. Research / Royal Australian Air Force | Built by University of New South Wales/Canberra Cubesat 6U | Mass 10 kg | Orbit 199 × 205 km · 45.0° | Status Decayed 2025-04-02 | NORAD 47967 |
Myriota 7 2021-023D · Payload | Operator Myriota Pty Ltd | Built by Tyvak Nanosatellite Systems LLC Cubesat 3U | Mass 5 kg | Orbit 225 × 243 km · 45.0° | Status Decayed 2024-12-04 | NORAD 47968 |
Gunsmoke-J 3 2021-023E · Payload | Operator US Army Space and Missile Defense Command (USASMDC) / TriSept Corporation | Built by TriSept Corporation Cubesat 3U | Mass 4 kg | Orbit 189 × 207 km · 45.0° | Status Decayed 2025-04-24 | NORAD 47969 |
Electron 19 Stage 2 2021-023F · Stage | Operator Rocket Lab Ltd. | Built by Rocket Lab Ltd. Electron St2 | Mass 250 kg | Orbit 164 × 190 km · 45.0° | Status Decayed 2022-01-15 | NORAD 47970 |
Global-9 2021-023G · Payload | Operator BlackSky Global | Built by LeoStella LLC (SFLIN/THALES) BSky | Mass 55 kg | Orbit 411 × 414 km · 45.0° | Status On orbit | NORAD 47971 |
Photon Pathstone 2021-023H · Payload | Operator Rocket Lab USA, Long Beach | Built by Rocket Lab Ltd. Photon | Mass 20 kg | Orbit 108 × 138 km · 45.0° | Status Decayed 2023-03-14 | NORAD 47972 |
RAAF M2 B 2021-023J · Payload | Operator University of New South Wales Center for Space Eng. Research / Royal Australian Air Force | Built by University of New South Wales/Canberra Cubesat 6U | Mass 10 kg | Orbit 195 × 204 km · 45.0° | Status Decayed 2025-03-29 | NORAD 47973 |